The Beast Within
by blueblackgreen
Summary: Jacob is the adopted son of Esme and Carlisle, and his two siblings are Bella and Edward. Feeling his body change by the second, Jacob searches for answers to find out who he is, and why there's a beast living inside him.


My name is Jacob Cullen. I was adopted by Esme and Carlisle when I was three. Edward is my older brother and Bella is my younger sister. We live in Forks, Washington and go to Forks High School. It's a small town so everyone knows each other, so no one freaks out when they learn I'm a part of the Cullen family. We're a close knit town and we're all pretty accepting.

I know I'm from the Quileute tribe and my mother was unfit to raise me, so she put me up for adoption. Esme and Carlisle said I had already looked like a part of the family, so they immediately took me in. On occasion, Bella and Edward offer to take me to the Quileute reservation and maybe meet some kin. But I refuse every time. I don't want to meet my other family when I'm perfectly happy with the one I have. What if they're a bunch of drunks who sit around wasting away all day? Then I'll have to live the rest of my life knowing that I came from family of losers. No thank you. I'll keep the Cullens.

The first time it happened Bella and I were in the living room watching the Walking Dead. Edward came in and sat on the floor to attempt some sibling bonding with Bells and I. He never hung out with us so our mom forced him to get off his computer and interact with his loving brother and sister. But anyways, about half way through the show, I got this crazy burning in my chest. Then, it spread from my chest down to my arms, then to my fingertips. This heat was all around. It felt like I was in a cocoon, and it made me uneasy.

"Are you okay," Bella asked. Edward turned around at her question. She pressed her palm to my forehead then immediately pulled it back. "Jake, you're burning up! Edward get mom!"

"No, I…I'm fine…really," I forced out. But he ran off anyways in a panic. For the rest of the night, our mother made me lie in bed and drink ice cold water, hoping to break the fever but to no prevail. The heat continued to linger in my body, and for some reason I got angrier by the second. When my mother would come in the room my fist would ball up, and every time I saw Edward I got the strangest and strongest urge to hit him with everything I had. But I held it back. We waited for our dad to get home and doctor me up. But he had no luck, as well. So instead, he gave me some sleeping pills which worked like a charm, and the next morning I felt normal.

Normal besides the insane starvation I was feeling. I don't think I've ever been that hungry before in my life. It was like I hadn't eaten in days. So, I ran to the kitchen and startled my mom who was surprised to see me feeling better. "You hungry," she asked. I nodded frantically like an eight year old. She put pancakes and sausage in front of me and I wolfed it down in minutes. She gave me two more pancakes and I did away with those, too.

"Jake, I understand you're a sixteen year old growing boy, but we must save some for the others," she said, and then walked to the living room. I'm not sure how, but I snuck and ate the rest of the pancakes while she was gone, then ran back to my room. A few moments later I heard my name shouted in multiple voices, followed by the sound of feet running towards my bedroom. I knew I was in for it.

First it was Bella, then Edward, then Carlisle, and then Esme. They took turns scolding me for eating all the breakfast. When they were done I snidely added, "I think there's some sausage left." At the comment, they proceeded to beat me with pillows until I begged for mercy. After my beating, I got ready for school then waiting for Bella and Edward in his car. They nagged me the entire way about those pancakes and I rebutted by saying they were delicious.

When we got to school, Edward separated from us like usual to hang with his senior friends, Jasper, Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie whom I hate. Bella and I found our group, Mike, Jessica, Eric, and Angela standing in the parking lot. We talked for a while then headed to our classes. Jessica and I had Biology together. I hated Biology, but I endured it because I've liked Jessica for a while now, and if this is what it takes to spend time with her, I'll do it.

This also means dealing with Emmett, one of Edward's friends, who was still in a junior class for some reason. I'm not sure why he liked to pick on me but he made sure to do so every day. His huge stature was pretty terrifying compare to my smaller, un-muscular one. But I still held my ground, kind of.

"Hey man," Emmett said, giving me intensely hard pats on my back. "How's it going?"

"Fine," I said. "It's fine." He grinned then knocked my backpack off the desk. At that moment I'm not sure what happened. It was almost like something clicked in my head. My eyes kind of glazed over and all I saw was red. I heard muffled voices which I assumed to be Jessica yelling at Emmett. Almost as if my body was being controlled, I stood up and punched Emmett in the face. It hurt my fists like crazy, but he stumbled back so I guess he was hurt, too. But not hurt enough. He grabbed me by my shirt and lifted me off the ground with ease. Our teacher Mrs. Hill walked in the room and shouted at Emmett to put me down.

I was completely terrified and shocked that I had hit him. That was definitely not like me. As we stared face to face, he looked like a bull that was ready to tear me apart. But he restrained himself. Why? I don't know. But he put me down and backed away with a tiny hint of confusion in his eyes.

Mrs. Hill sent us both to the office where we sat and waited to be scolded by the principal. We weren't going to get in trouble, we knew that. The administrative staff here is extremely lenient. So we sat in silence until Emmett broke it.

"How'd you do that," he asked, the confusion still in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Now I was confused. "You've never been hit before?"

"I have actually…but you're just a scrawny kid. And your hit actually hurt." I rolled my eyes at his comment.

"I don't know, maybe I had an adrenaline rush. But what does it matter? Hits hurt, and you're only human, right?"

He paused. "Yeah. Yeah, that's right."


End file.
